Wouldn’t life be so easy if we could wave our magic wand and tell you the one perfect auto insurance company that has the most affordable coverage for first-time drivers? It’s not that simple, unfortunately, as there are a whole bunch of unknowns like whether or not you own a home, your gender, how safe your vehicle is, and whether you want full coverage, that all impact the cost of coverage. Car insurance is kind of a dry topic, but this article will explain the best ways to avoid paying too much and will give you a solid foundation to find cheaper car insurance in Arizona.
Finding cheap auto insurance is not most people’s favorite thing to do, and figuring out which companies offer the lowest-priced insurance rates for first-time drivers will require even more shopping around.
Every auto insurer has a unique approach for determining rates, so to begin we’ll rank the most affordable insurance companies in Arizona. It’s a good idea to be aware that Arizona insurance rates are determined by lots of factors that may substantially change the price you pay for coverage. Events like a birthday, buying a different home, or having a fender bender may prompt premium changes that may make certain companies higher when they were quite affordable.
Compare Cheap Insurance Quotes for Inexperienced Drivers
Rank | Company | Cost Per Year |
---|---|---|
1 | The Hartford | $845 |
2 | Safeco | $923 |
3 | Auto-Owners | $924 |
4 | USAA | $1,080 |
5 | Travelers | $1,086 |
6 | Progressive | $1,118 |
7 | GEICO | $1,142 |
8 | Allied | $1,197 |
9 | Ameriprise Group | $1,208 |
10 | CSAA | $1,225 |
11 | Farm Bureau Mutual | $1,247 |
12 | Safe Auto | $1,297 |
13 | Unitrin | $1,317 |
14 | Farmers | $1,350 |
15 | State Farm | $1,377 |
16 | Titan | $1,418 |
17 | American Family | $1,478 |
18 | Amica | $1,487 |
19 | MetLife | $1,521 |
20 | California Casualty | $1,522 |
Find Cheaper Rates Go |
The Hartford may offer some of the lowest car insurance rates in Mesa at around $845 annually. Safeco, Auto-Owners, USAA, and Travelers would also be considered some of the best Mesa, AZ car insurance companies.
As the example above demonstrates, if you currently have coverage with Auto-Owners and switched to The Hartford, you may see annual savings of roughly $79. Arizona drivers with USAA might save as much as $235 a year, and Travelers insureds might reduce prices by as much as $241 a year.
If you want to see how much you could save, click here to get quotes or visit any of the companies below.
Remember that these premiums are averaged for all types of insureds and vehicles and and are not calculated with an exact zip code location for first-time drivers. So the insurer that can offer you the best price may not even be in the top 28 companies shown above. That emphasizes why you need to quote rates from many companies using your own driver information and specific vehicle type.
The vehicle model driven is probably the most important factor when comparing low-cost car insurance for first-time drivers. Vehicles with economical engines, a great safety record, or a positive history of liability claims will cost less to insure than high performance models. The table below features insurance prices for the most affordable vehicles to insure in Arizona.
Vehicle Make and Model | Estimated Cost for Full Coverage |
---|---|
Honda CR-V LX 4WD | $5,524 |
Honda Accord LX 4-Dr Sedan | $5,532 |
Ford Escape XLT 4WD | $5,579 |
Jeep Wrangler Sport 4WD 2-Dr | $5,772 |
Hyundai Elantra SE Touring Station Wagon | $5,941 |
Toyota Prius | $5,999 |
Ford Explorer XLT AWD | $6,189 |
Ford F-150 XLT Crew Cab 2WD | $6,196 |
Volkswagen Jetta 2.0T Station Wagon | $6,360 |
Toyota Tacoma 2WD | $6,494 |
Chevrolet Impala LS | $6,502 |
Toyota RAV4 Limited 2WD | $6,550 |
Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo 4WD | $6,557 |
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Data assumes single male driver age 17, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $1,000 deductibles, and Arizona minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include safe-driver, and claim-free. Rate quotes do not factor in your specific Mesa, AZ location which can impact price quotes noticeably.
Looking at the numbers, you can see that makes and models like the Honda CR-V, Honda Accord, and Ford Escape will definitely be a few of the most affordable vehicles to insure for new drivers. Rates will tend to be higher because of the fact that there is more inherent risk for first-time drivers, but in general those makes and models will tend to have the lowest prices that you’ll find.
Responsible drivers pay cheaper insurance rates
The ideal way to obtain low insurance prices in Arizona for new drivers is to drive carefully and avoid accidents and traffic violations. The diagram below shows how traffic citations and at-fault claims raise auto insurance rates for each different age category. The costs are based on a married female driver, full physical damage coverage, $250 deductibles, and no additional discounts are factored in.
In the previous chart, the average cost of a car insurance policy in Mesa per year with a clean driving record and no accidents is $1,618. Receive one speeding ticket and the average cost rises to $1,886, an increase of $268 each year. Now get two accidents along with the one speeding ticket and the annual cost of insurance for first-time drivers goes up to an average of $4,209. That’s an increase of $2,591, or $216 per month, just for being a careless driver!
The chart below illustrates how choosing a deductible can affect yearly insurance costs when researching cheap insurance for first-time drivers. The premiums are based on a married female driver, full physical damage coverage, and no other discounts are factored in.
The chart above illustrates that a 30-year-old driver could reduce rates by $236 a year by changing from a $100 deductible to a $500 deductible, or save $358 by selecting a $1,000 deductible. Young drivers, like the Age 20 category, could drop their prices $508 annually by choosing a higher deductible. If you do make the decision to raise your deductibles, it is a good idea to have additional savings on hand to offset the extra out-of-pocket expense, which deters some drivers from choosing higher deductibles.
Full coverage rates compared to liability-only
Lowering the price of insurance is the goal of most drivers, and one common way to find cheap insurance for first-time drivers is to buy liability only. The information below illustrates the difference between insurance prices with full physical damage coverage and with liability coverage only. The premium estimates are based on no tickets, no at-fault accidents, $250 deductibles, single status, and no discounts are taken into consideration.
Averaged for all ages 20 through 70, full coverage on your policy costs $2,107 per year over and above liability coverage. That is a big expense that brings up the question when is the right time to remove full coverage. There isn’t a steadfast formula of when to exclude comprehensive and collision coverage on your policy, but there is a broad guideline. If the annual cost of coverage is about 10% or more of the vehicle’s replacement cost less your deductible, then it might be time to consider dropping full coverage.
There are some cases where dropping full coverage is not recommended. If you have an outstanding loan on your vehicle, you have to maintain full coverage to protect the lienholder’s interest in the vehicle. Also, if you don’t have enough money to buy a different vehicle in case of an accident, you should not opt for liability only.